Vegas is old news now. They are not the cute "new" toy anymore. Bettman grooming Seattle to be the new shiny toy.
- powerenforcer

Will be interesting to see how the fan base accumulates for Seattle as most residents are Canucks fans.

Shaw — Kampf — Kubalik

Carpenter — Dach — Smith (Cagiulla)

Stan has transformed the bottom 6 as maybe not the biggest in size, but darn are they tough to play against. Also improved PK (now 21st in the league) helps playing more aggressive, as you can still play aggressive, and if a penalty is as a result, you can rely that your PK will kill it off.

What were the Wild thinking when they let Tuch go to Vegas? 1st round draft choice in 2014, traded at the expansion draft to Vegas for a third so that Vegas wouldn't select someone else. This guy is a horse and just coming into his own.

De Haan has always been a solid money in the bank player. No nonsense, reliable, old school, north/south type who is showing me some offensive IQ. Watching him closely he gets a lot of shots off from the point but a lot get blocked below the dots. If he gets some of these thru he'll be even more valuable. ......... His pinches seem right many more times than not.

But his biggest value so far is making Seabs less a liability. Smart move to pair him with Seabs.

Hawks were again brutalized in corsi but again despite that they were near even in high danger for and against. It was 14-13 Vegas despite the shot total at 5 on 5 being 33-25. So at 5 on 5 the Hawks SOG differential wasn't as bad being a -8. IIRC they had more HDSF than Toronto and were -1 vs Vegas. The formula seems to be working and bought into. You'll get more shots off than we will, our goalie will be better than yours and we'll go even in high danger shots but our finishers will be better than yours and again our goalie better than yours..........

My biggest takeaway was the 3rd period. Up 2 they stayed on the gas and outshot em 9-8 allowing 1 high danger shot while taking 4. Showed this is a confident team that has all hands on deck. Would have been easy to keep 4 guys behind the puck trying to protect a 2 goal 3rd period lead and hope for the best but they stayed with the "system" and they played to win, went for the throat and were rewarded.

Funny how a guy on the bench who can play pushes an athlete. Lehner has brought the very best out of Crow who the past three games coming in had a 2.62 GAA and a SV% of .929............ Best we've seen Crow in a long time.
- Mr Ricochet

I agree that in the 3rd period they played a little smarter. It seemed like there was always 2 dmen and one forward in defensive positions as soon as Vegas got control of their puck in the Vegas zone. Yet the Hawks kept the Vegas defenders honest by having the 2 forwards ready to go on the attack when the Hawks got the puck in our zone. A sign of a more veteran team.

Will be interesting to see how the fan base accumulates for Seattle as most residents are Canucks fans.
- Assman22

Right now they are the only game in town. Will be different when the NFL moves in.

Care to explain why Moon was found in Moorings??
- paulr

I thought it was staged in Moncton, New Brunswick.

Will be interesting to see how the fan base accumulates for Seattle as most residents are Canucks fans.
- Assman22

Seabs will help convert them.

Nice win last night. It was important to get 2 points on the road against a conference foe ahead of the Hawks in the standings. And no loser point for Vegas to boot. Hopefully this win gives them confidence for the NSH game and they can continue the mini-streak.

3 home games next week...Buffalo, Carolina and TB. All of them are beatable if the Hawks continue their solid play.

https://www.capfriendly.com/players/adam-boqvist

not the same position as Dach...bokie's contract already "slid" one year...he is now in year 1...the 9 game thing does not come into play.
- bogiedoc

I don't think that's the case and CapFriendly supports that by having that blue arrow icon which indicates slide candidate. An ELC can slide 2 years as long as NHL games remain less than 10.

Right now they are the only game in town. Will be different when the NFL moves in.
- LAHawk

NFL is only 8 home games a year. I wouldn’t think it will have much impact.

Nice win last night. It was important to get 2 points on the road against a conference foe ahead of the Hawks in the standings. And no loser point for Vegas to boot. Hopefully this win gives them confidence for the NSH game and they can continue the mini-streak.

3 home games next week...Buffalo, Carolina and TB. All of them are beatable if the Hawks continue their solid play.
- boilermaker100

Will Joki get a video tribute, like Carpenter did last night? I think these video tributes are getting ridiculous. Should Perlinin get one the next time Detroit is in Chicago? Of course it would be a short tribute, unless they really draw out 2 weeks worth of good play

Good to see the Hawks come away with a good win against a good team for a change. Lets hope they can keep up the momentum and keep adding points to the bank

Will Joki get a video tribute, like Carpenter did last night? I think these video tributes are getting ridiculous. Should Perlinin get one the next time Detroit is in Chicago? Of course it would be a short tribute, unless they really draw out 2 weeks worth of good play

- LAHawk

AA will get one when Ottawa comes to town.

Shaw — Kampf — Kubalik

Carpenter — Dach — Smith (Cagiulla)

Stan has transformed the bottom 6 as maybe not the biggest in size, but darn are they tough to play against. Also improved PK (now 21st in the league) helps playing more aggressive, as you can still play aggressive, and if a penalty is as a result, you can rely that your PK will kill it off.

What were the Wild thinking when they let Tuch go to Vegas? 1st round draft choice in 2014, traded at the expansion draft to Vegas for a third so that Vegas wouldn't select someone else. This guy is a horse and just coming into his own.
- LAHawk

If memory serves me right I believe they were trying to protect from losing one of their good young D-Men in Dumba, Spurgeon, and Brodin because they had to protect Suter

Boqvist back to Rockford.

Kevin Lankinen gets a shout out from NHL.com for his recent play in Rockford.

https://www.nhl.com/news/...rence-goalies/c-311209936

Shaw — Kampf — Kubalik

Carpenter — Dach — Smith (Cagiulla)

Stan has transformed the bottom 6 as maybe not the biggest in size, but darn are they tough to play against. Also improved PK (now 21st in the league) helps playing more aggressive, as you can still play aggressive, and if a penalty is as a result, you can rely that your PK will kill it off.

What were the Wild thinking when they let Tuch go to Vegas? 1st round draft choice in 2014, traded at the expansion draft to Vegas for a third so that Vegas wouldn't select someone else. This guy is a horse and just coming into his own.
- LAHawk

The bottom 6 has been horrendous for the last few yrs, IMO as responsible as anything for the club sucking out loud the last couple yrs. Agree it's been pretty good this yr especially when the 3rd line was Saad-Kampf-Kubalik. .......

Thought Smith had his best game as a Hawk. Never mind the 2 assists he brought some IQ and heavy to the game whereas most of the season he's been invisible at best and to make matters worse he's not able to play center effectively anymore. ........ Hope he's becoming comfortable as a Hawk and tis game is the rule and not the exception.

Agree, the bottom 6 has been good, is deep, flexible and if Dach stays down there and reasonably develops as the yr goes on will be even better and give the group legit depth scoring possibilities.

I'm a big big Tuch fan going back to his USHL days playing for the NTDP. Big dude, 220 lbs, who is a ++skater with some silky hands and is a +corsi player every yr he's been in the bigs. A true power forward. Was due too pop big time then they traded for Stone taking L1 and 1st unit PP from him and now they love Glass who pushed him to L3. ............ Yea man, he's a player and one who I wondered if Dach could be compared to and Dach is a center making him even more valuable. Both big men who skate and have hands like a 5ft 10in guy.

Boqvist back to Rockford.
- RedRevenge

Contract will slide another year unless he goes past the nine games this year.

Right move to make. Let him get 20+ minutes a night with Rockford and continue to grow his game. Then we'll see how the season shakes out.

I agree that in the 3rd period they played a little smarter. It seemed like there was always 2 dmen and one forward in defensive positions as soon as Vegas got control of their puck in the Vegas zone. Yet the Hawks kept the Vegas defenders honest by having the 2 forwards ready to go on the attack when the Hawks got the puck in our zone. A sign of a more veteran team.
- -Doh-

Maybe less thinking and more just playing hockey? A comfortable confident team allowed to play to their strengths, which ain't playing in their zone. Pressure the opponent so they don't get their offense going, make them defend.

The bottom 6 has been horrendous for the last few yrs, IMO as responsible as anything for the club sucking out loud the last couple yrs. Agree it's been pretty good this yr especially when the 3rd line was Saad-Kampf-Kubalik. .......

Thought Smith had his best game as a Hawk. Never mind the 2 assists he brought some IQ and heavy to the game whereas most of the season he's been invisible at best and to make matters worse he's not able to play center effectively anymore. ........ Hope he's becoming comfortable as a Hawk and tis game is the rule and not the exception.

Agree, the bottom 6 has been good, is deep, flexible and if Dach stays down there and reasonably develops as the yr goes on will be even better and give the group legit depth scoring possibilities.

I'm a big big Tuch fan going back to his USHL days playing for the NTDP. Big dude, 220 lbs, who is a ++skater with some silky hands and is a +corsi player every yr he's been in the bigs. A true power forward. Was due too pop big time then they traded for Stone taking L1 and 1st unit PP from him and now they love Glass who pushed him to L3. ............ Yea man, he's a player and one who I wondered if Dach could be compared to and Dach is a center making him even more valuable. Both big men who skate and have hands like a 5ft 10in guy.
- Mr Ricochet

I thought Smith's last 2 games (against the Leafs, 6 hits) have definitely been his best. He is slow, but made his presence known against 2 fast teams.

Even Gus showed a passion I haven't seen from him before. He was all fired up about his goal, but even more so about the penalty shot call against Crow. Showed he cared about the team, not just his points.

If Bovquist was just sent down, looks like they made the decision to keep Gus all year. If he plays with the passion he did last night, I am ok with that.

I thought Smith's last 2 games (against the Leafs, 6 hits) have definitely been his best. He is slow, but made his presence known against 2 fast teams.
- LAHawk

Slow afoot does not mean play hockey slow and vets like Smith understand the difference. And you rightly note that TOR and LVG have lotsa speed.

Smith can be a bigger part of Hawk success than many realize. Been a solid player for yrs, is not without bottom 6 skill, always had a bit of an edge and is willing to play heavy.

Given a consistent role and slotted properly he can help IMO.

Slow afoot does not mean play hockey slow and vets like Smith understand the difference. And you rightly note that TOR and LVG have lotsa speed.

Smith can be a bigger part of Hawk success than many realize. Been a solid player for yrs, is not without bottom 6 skill, always had a bit of an edge and is willing to play heavy.

Given a consistent role and slotted properly he can help IMO.
- Mr Ricochet

The last 2 games reminded me of Desjardins when we picked him up for the 2015 cup run (not the one that turned back into Andrew Desjardins in 2016.)

Boqvist back to Rockford.
- RedRevenge

The good news is that means Murphy is ready to comeback.

I think Boqvist will be back this year.

Let's hope Gus has a 10 to 15 game run of good offensive numbers and so so defensive play (which would be good for him) increasing his trade value. Maybe someone else's PP QB getting hurt would help his value also. It would be nice for some team to overpay for him.

One thing impressive about last nite was that they scored early (a first period goal), in the stream of the game (2 in the second), and late (2 in the third). That hasn’t been apparent recently.

And that they didn’t allow VGK to score fro early in the first until late in the third. Crawford, yeah, but with giving up a lot of SAT/SOG, they seemed to clear the area around Crawford fairly well.

TWO impressive things....

And they got depth scoring - Dach, two defensemen.

THREE impressive things....
- StLBravesFan

Nice breakdown. Game was fun to watch.

Even Gus showed a passion I haven't seen from him before. He was all fired up about his goal, but even more so about the penalty shot call against Crow. Showed he cared about the team, not just his points.

If Bovquist was just sent down, looks like they made the decision to keep Gus all year. If he plays with the passion he did last night, I am ok with that.
- LAHawk

I noticed that too. He was riled up on the bench on the penalty shot call and let the ref know. ......... This is a happy group right now playing fast and loose full throttle hockey with favorable results.

Looks like Murphy is back in Saturday. Him and Keith were very good together and Gus has been paired with Keith taking Murphy's spot. Interesting to see the pairings vs NSH Saturday.